Computer memory devices store data in bits within individual memory cells that can be represented as zeros or ones. Frequently, for any number of reasons, selected memory cells or groups of memory cells fail in either a reading or writing operation. Given that a number of memory cells will fail, an error correction code is commonly generated and stored in the computer memory with an associated amount of data, which is referred to herein as a “block” of data. The error correction code (ECC) can be used for example to predict what the state of the failed memory cells would likely have been, and in some cases is used to “correct” for the small number of failed memory cells. Improvements in ECC are always desirable.